Between the time when the LOLcats drank intelligent internet humour, and the rise of obnoxious memes, there was an age undreamed of. And onto this, Rob Allen, destined to wear the jeweled crown of really awesome puzzle games upon a troubled brow. It is I, his chronicler, who alone can tell thee of his saga. Let me tell you of the days of Hapland! Of the great plains of the Farcade! And perhaps most wondrous of all... awwwww, yeah, it's Netshift, yo! PARTY!

Originally featured way, way, wayback in 2008 and consisting solely of community-generated content, Netshift is back with an updated look, new tricks and traps, and 30 official levels by your barbarian overlord and mine, Rob Allen himself. The premise of the game is simple; navigate your little ship through the dangers of each level to the checkered exit for victory. Use the [arrow] keys to move, and [enter] to pick up or drop items, while [spacebar] fires any missiles you're carrying. Why do you need missiles? Because there are a lot of obstacles in your way, from force fields to proximity bombs to switches and levers and more. Your job is to figure out what each object does, how they interact, and use that to your advantage so you can make your escape. If you get stuck, tapping [R] reloads the level. A single hit or explosion causes your ship to blow up, but you can restart without penalty, and the larger levels feature checkpoints that, once activated, will be where you respawn. Oh, and this time around, pressing [M] mutes the sound.

Netshift is one of those great "just one more level" type of puzzle games, and the 30 new levels constructed by its creator are very well done. They start off simple enough to ease you into the mechanics, but gradually ramp up the difficulty until you find yourself clutching the sides of your head, gazing feverishly into the monitor muttering, "What does it mean?!". The one-hit KO would be a killer without the presence of checkpoints, and it's still going to be frustrating for some players. But where the game absolutely shines is its bevy of clever items all laid out for you to experiment with, like a Rube Goldberg machine with explosions and spaceships.

It's great to see Rob Allen back in action, and the good news is not only Netshift's new 'do, but the revival of his site and all the games on it. Does he have anything new on the horizon? Mmmmmmaaaaaybe. But right now, Netshift is back and better than ever, and together with its community content, provides enough of a challenge for you to sink your teeth into for a good long while.

Fun :) Now on 11, having trouble figuring out what these strange boxes actually do. Got to the checkpoint, and I think I get the idea of what needs to happen next, but I'm having trouble actually making it happen :/

Don't forget you can pick up and drop items. Hit [enter] to grab a missile, and [enter] to drop it without firing it. This lets you move it somewhere you can access it BEFORE you use another missile to flip the switch.

Sean, are you stuck on Level One?

Go to the right, avoiding the enemy, and pick up the rocket. Go back to the first area and fire the rocket and the yellow thing in the way. Then go down, and push the big square block into the force field blocking the exit to detonate it so you can pass safely.

After tripping the orange switch once, you'll have two shots left. Pick one up and leave it between the two columns of orange pillars. Then, fire the last shot at the switch, and quickly dart across the first set of pillars before it hits. The rest should be cake.

I am stuck in the second room, In the first room, I pick up the key go to the next room, and then I can't do anything, there is a gray thing on the left side, and I can't pick it up or activate it. the green rock blocks the path on the right.

Thanks Marcsin :) I managed to work out what the boxes were actually doing (I thought they just spawned things), and made it through. Now I'm ready for 12... but the site is down :( Getting alternate 500 and 503 errors. Did we flood the site this quickly?

1st) I agree with grosie
2nd) most if not all of these are just remakes of the same maps from Blackshift
3rd) I am stuck on 17 - I can get the first diagonal-bouncer, but then not much after that. Anyone there yet? Help?

@SonicLover - Probably.
@eric - I still have an old version (1.24A) installer on my hard drive, think I'll go and play some now.
Would have been nice if Robin had done the same level pit thing but for Blackshift. And multiplayer (everybody edits stylee) would have been interesting (or maybe more like asynch racer)

It's just a closed room with some iron boxes and robots that bounce off of each other. I've tried closing them up separately and together in all kinds of configurations, but it doesn't seem like anything's about to blow a hole in the wall. What am I missing...?

I thought it would be a nice mention, and bearing in mind it's the same author, was relevant...

Please don't link drop in the comments. Although it is somewhat related, and yes we mentioned it back in 2008 when we first reviewed Netshift, Rob does not have all of his games back up on his site right now, Blackshift being one of them. Thanks for understanding. :) -Jay]

I'm trying to shoot the bullet into the mirror to hit the gun, and then run, grab the mirror and move it to the place next to the purple button, and move out of the way. But this is nigh-impossible with the bullet physics being what they are. If I run too fast, I get killed by my own bullet. Is this what is intended?

That the purple ships bounce off the infinite missile icon when its on the ground, so you have to swap the purple ship which is being copied for the missile icon so it can be copied instead, the purple ship you release must not die though and must be swapped back after you have set up a path for the ships to follow. If that makes any sense?

Okay, sweet. Beat all the built-in levels from 0 to 29. There's an amusing but slightly long-winded message for those who do what I did; it's way too lengthy for me to copy-and-paste here, but it's hilarious enough that everyone deserves to see it, so I'll provide a link to it.

Ok, sorry, But I am just not getting 25. I don't have any missiles to clone because I have to use the first red one to stop the yellow gun. then all I have is the blue missile which isn't enough to do anything...I don't think......What am I missing?

Don't know how to make spoilers as a guest.
But for level 2 you don't need an old mirror.
There is a mirror (the square one), shoot your down rocket at it and move away so the down rocket can go up (after bouncing on the mirror). Then take the going right rocket and then you're almost done.

Thanks for 17
Now completely stuck at the very beginning of 18. Only have a rocket that goes to the right and a key. Don't know where to use that rocket.
By the way is there a way of saving the game?
I don't mind playing all the levels again, but not level 15. Took me a lot of tries before I was fast enough.

@Saltone: try everything. Move everywhere, push stuff, pick it up, fire it. It doesn't matter how many time you're blown to pieces, since you can just try again and again. Don't give up on this one, it'll be worth your time...

Lucky, I can't make it out of the second room of level 1! I have spaced and entered on every single space, I have pushed on every single wall, I really think it does not work righ on my comp. There is a gray thing in the second room, and I can't pick it up or anything.

Not really sure what you mean with "second room", but once you go down from the starting position, the center square in the room should be push-able. Push it onto the mine that sits in the opening before the goal.

It reminds me of a game from my childhood: you were a small blonde haired person, from a top down view. You had to collect keys, avoid enemies, and slide on ice and other weird surfaces. Anyone know what I'm talking about?!

@ LuckyDee, any more info? i must have played the level 415 times. I've tried killing the first bug before he can activate the switch. timed my movement etc etc. I have NO idea how to get that mine out of the way for the bullet to get through.

LuckyDee's comment just confuses me, unfortunately =p In order to even obtain the first mirror, I have to use the replicator to obtain a second block to get past the mines. The replicator as far as I can tell is essentially a "one-shot" since there's no other way to shoot it after I use it to duplicate the block... am I missing something? Am I just supposed to race the bullet?

Finally cracked level 25 with the help of the spoilers in this thread. Thanks for that - I'd still be stuck otherwise. And it still took ages.

In short:

The level was impossible for me until I realised you can turn the replicator on and off by blocking the horizontal red slider thing that fuels it.

Walkthrough:

After escaping the initial section by trapping the vertical red slider, get the other gun and go and collect the gems. Then set up the movable blocks, one to funnel the purple rockets down the tunnel with the mines and one ready to block the tunnel on the left.

Shoot down the tunnel to release the key and set the replicator going. After four purple rockets have come out and removed the mines, block the tunnel on the left, and go and collect the infinite gun. Fire your way through up to the replicator and shoot the trapped purple rockets.

Turn the replicator off by dropping the gun and blocking the horizontal red slider with the red symbol thing. Pick up the gun again, and release the trapped purple rocket. Drop the gun on the right of the replicator while the rocket is to your right, so it won't bother you. Now go back and turn the replicator on again. Arrange two infinite guns where they will funnel the rockets into the yellow thing.

Turn the replicator off. Get the gun on the left and drop it somewhere out of the way. Then collect the gun on the right - carefully, as this will unblock the remaining purple rocket - and use it to trap the rocket back where it started. Unblock the end of that tunnel and get rid of the block you used.

Finally turn the replicator back on and carefully follow one of the new stream of rockets back down the tunnel where the mines were, turning towards the exit at the end. Rockets should now be being funneled into the yellow thing, so you can reach the exit.

The "obvious" way works. I was able to place the mirror at the bottom, shoot the rocket, grab the mirror, race up (without catching up to my own rocket and getting annihilated), put it down and get out of the way.
With that said it took me about 15 tries, and

I only managed after I had figured out that WASD also works for movement control.

I deactivated the grills and got to the two rockets (one right, one down). The rocket to the right, I use for the button to get to the lower part of the level. Not sure about the other rocket, but how do i get to the red rocket in the lower half?

I used the replicator to make two blocks and get the first mirror. then, I blow everything up to be able to push the red switches down. from there, I can SEE the second mirror, but i've wasted my two blocks already and I can't manipulate the blocks below me to go up. similarly, I can't move fast enough with the mirror to blow up the green things to the right. help please?

amazingly, my level (Completionist) has 200+ views and 7 favorites, but it doesn't look like anyone but me has beaten it!
If anyone who's been persistently trying to beat my level is here and needs hints, feel free to ask...

When you get to the three arrow blocks just above three green spore things, you need to move the arrow blocks enough to blast through the spores.

Imagine the three blocks are labeled A, B, C. Push block A down, push block C down, then push block B to the side. Now bounce the laser through the row where block B used to be, and blow up the middle green spore. Voila, you're on to the next part of the puzzle

I'm afraid my second level is way too big, I'm pretty sure the size limit was good for me in the old one because it kept me from making levels that lag...
But, the third one is just the result of starting off and running out of ideas. I'll try and find my happy-medium size with this next one.

Uhh... Did JIG delete the comment that explained the javascript workaround that allows you to bypass a level if you're stuck?

Because I could really use that now. Still freaking stuck on 14. I KNOW there is someone out there who could drop me a clue.

I push the block so the purple chaser takes out one of the bombs surrounding the skull, but stepping on the skull doesn't do anything and I can't figure out how to get my hands on that key in the second room.

[Check out Grosie's comment on August 14, 2010 4:53 PM In fact, I'll add it to the walkthrough section. -Jay]

Hello dear friends,
I was so happy that Netshift was back, and happily started to make my levels again. It was nice to see that other players from old were back again too with their (new) great levels.
I have some questions thoughh:
1. Again there is a problem to get connected with foon.co.uk??? Hope they can solve it quickly, we really missed Netshift.
2. I was wondering what had happened with the old Netshift and all the levels we made, there were some great players, making so great levels like Lunch, Obie, Ren, Mannax etc etc (sorry I don't remember all the names!!!, and I myself made some levels too, so my question is, has it all disappeared???
3. Does Rob Allen plan to launch it for download evently???

When Netshift is back again which I hope, please check out the players levels folks, you can do that by right clicking on their names!! You can even check out my games!
thanks Domna

I forgot something to mention in my previuous message:
When you play the games levels and don't finish them all in one time, you have to start from the beginning again (I have logged in, so not being logged in is not the reason).
Would it be possible, when the game is back and the server problems are solved, that Rob could fix that???
Regarding those server problems, I was thinking that maybe there should be some basic criteria for keeping the player levels, because I see that some just put the rocket and a finish and that is all. I remember in 2008 that there were some players launching huge amount of player levels justlike that, I assume that is taking a lot of server space.
Thanks for hospitality,
Domna

Yeah, level 25 took me many tries, too. I think it was the hardest, and 29 is just a joke? Anyway, I'm surprised nobody bet my level http://foon.co.uk/farcade/netshift/play/573
until I had a look at it last time. I miss the show-scores-button from the beta.

I am happy everything is functioning again, and we can play and make our levels again. Very great levels are being made by a lot of people. Check them out!!!
You can find my levels on following link http://foon.co.uk/farcade/netshift/user/Domna-1
But there are many other people making levels, so right click on somebody's name and you can see all the levels they make. Have Fun
Be well my firends, Domna

kadoffe - dude you are an awesome gamer! Grab the mirror and put it in the corner. Grab the deflector and put it down before the down arrow but be quick! Hide, facing down at the arrow and wait. You will disappear when the explosions happen. Then, grab the diamond, go down and the rest is fairly simple.

Hi Obie,
thanks a lot for your help, but my problem was not the beginning but the "fairly simple rest".
I try to get the blue stone out of the maze to destroy the mine with it, but i find no way out of the maze with this stone...

Thanks Kadoffe - I still haven't solved yours yet but am working on it! Bin busy... If you note in that level that there is a specific way that the squares fly away from the teleporter. I screwed up tho about the red death ha ha ha - I should have blocked it so that you had to ride the blue train over the last part. I see you solved that enigma! Good work!!!

Oh, I thought i've done these two levels a few days ago but now they are total different and not as easy as they were.
Spamland is nothing new and actually simple.
Crapland is boring and not as difficult as it seems to be. You only have to take the mirrors from the left top side to guide the bullet from one of the cannons through the maze. Its very simple because you have time enough to put the mirror down on the right place and to run away but you have to do this a plenty of times.

Ha ha ha - on Crapland, the mirrors are a ruse. Take the gun and one mirror. Shoot the tree, go around and push the red block over the flare and you win!

Hey - does domna visit this thread? He/she has some fun levels!

Doodlebird spam was fun. I need to find another use for the other push bomb and then kill the yellow dot. Maybe where the exit was, I put a key and now you have four choices for the bomb - down each one of the lanes for a win - I'd put a save in though and a hint.

Crapland: The very first try I did it so but I,ve forgotten this way :)
Domna was here in october.
Your last thing was a teaser. My first solution took 15 minutes, but it works and now I have to play it again...
Maybe its better to tell me the number of the game and not its name. I wondered wich of Doodlebirds spamlands was as hard for a need to discuss here ;)

He has some talent but wastes it in dumb levels. Maybe with a level named after him, he may get wiser. So be it.

I am trying beat a level by Wunk (who was a regular on the Beta version with some difficult games. This one is very difficult I think. At the point when you get to the blue microdots, you have to push the wood block before the first electrode and quickly pull your key away. You also have to do some blocking to get blue to spin aimlessly before you get the key.

Once you figure out how to get him to fire the blue gun to open the door - guess what, the one eyed fish appears - have no idea what to do with him yet. Really difficult level!

A nice level, yes, but the eyefish at last is simple.
A better way is it if you destroy the first electrode with the wood block. Than you have only to put the key up or down to route the magneto round the electrodes. Then put the key in front of the last electrode, wait for shooting and hide behind an electrode to destroy the eyefish.

@jinx - grab the key and move it up the board so that you can see what is going on. Shoot and run to the key manipulating the blockers to guide the mouse to it's target. There is another way if you know how to skip over the blockers but you will learn that when you play user levels.

Hi again!
I haven't been here for a long time cause some time nobody else was there, and now it seems like I was too late.
I hope you will keep discussing here, I want to join!
In the moment, I don't know which of my levels you mean. Perhaps my english isn't good enough.
By the way, you can play my beta-levels? I tried to recreate the best I could remember. "Boxed in" also was planned in beta, but I think I didn't finish it there.

@Kadoffe: Congratulations, your level really confused me. I'm impressed that you beat all my levels. What do you think about "Bonus level"?

We had to leave this board cause our discussion about our DOK-levels was to extensive. Therefore we talk per email. Here is the contact (I'm sure, you find the right adress) mausilibaer und yahoo in deutschland. I don't want to post here the complete adress...
Here you will meet obie and domna, too.

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